LITTLE CHANGES

Some things don’t work well for 5-year-olds.

Red carpet in a classroom may be overstimulating. Little ones can’t reach high sinks and countertops on their own, and round door knobs are difficult to open – as are heavy restroom doors.

All of these things will be changed this summer as Central Valley School District’s Barker Center is transformed to the new Central Valley Kindergarten Center.

The center, at Mission Avenue and Barker Road, will open Sept. 7 after a renovation that costs $423,328. It will become the temporary home to more than 200 Liberty Lake and Greenacres kindergartners.

The facility was built in 1953 as Barker Elementary School and was most recently used as an alternative high school and home to some special-needs and preschool programs.

Renovation plans include new windows, fresh paint and new flooring and lighting. Antiquated blackboards will be replaced with whiteboards. Classrooms will have cooling systems. The playground and parking lot will be improved, and steps will be built so kindergartners can reach the sinks and counters – all by Aug. 25, said Dave Brown, of Associated Construction Inc., general contractor for the project.

Kindergartners will be bused to and from their home schools. The additional transportation cost is estimated at about $30,000, with the state picking up about 90 percent of the cost, said Mike Pearson, district superintendent.

Joanne Comer has been appointed building administrator and will oversee operations. A media specialist (librarian) and full-time secretary Beverly Burkhalter will join Comer.

Principals at Greenacres and Liberty Lake will assign students to classrooms, just as they would for students in grades one to five. The kindergarten students and their teacher will move to the center together as a unit.

The center will offer all-day kindergarten, limited to three classes; 2 1/2 hour half-day kindergarten; music and physical education for all-day kindergarten; media center/library; child care, available on a first-come, first-served basis; preschool for qualified 4-year-old students; indoor and outdoor play areas and lunch for all-day students.

During the 2005-06 school year Central Valley enrolled about 360 new students in grades K-12, and the district expects another 375 additional students in September. Students are enrolling at all grade levels, but most at the elementary level.

It’s equivalent to adding the same number of students that could fill a new elementary school each year, said Pearson.

Pearson said creating the kindergarten center will free up three classrooms each at Liberty Lake and Greenacres elementary schools, where overcrowding is most prevalent.

“We are working to house students in existing facilities for the upcoming school year, but we are clearly running out of room,” said Pearson.